I am typing this late at night in a malfunctioning word-processing program, so bear with me.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 5. Shadows of the Past
Jack's rescue of Hilly, Diamond, and Faramir Took, his subsequent taking them hostage in an effort to safely leave the Shire, Pippin's pardon, and Jack's later rescue of young Faramir and Pippin-lad Gamgee are all detailed in All That Glisters.

Chapter 6. Led to the Slaughter
This chapter has been edited to show that there were three names on the death warrant.

Chapter 24. The Whipping Ground and Chapter 25. Consequences
Thanks to Larner for suggesting a plot point.

Chapter 34. A Token of Gratitude
Yes, the procession, the King's cloak, the King's horse, and Bergil's announcement are all borrowed from a well-known Book.

General Notes:
Notes to self and editor (to be deleted after final chapter posts, and please pardon our dust; story under construction, as you know, and email is down at the moment): I don't know if it shows in this story or not, but I really messed up, in my mind at least. Just was reading "Glisters" for continuity and I realised that Seledrith is the middle sister, not the eldest as I've been thinking in my mind while writing this. (And I really ought to have re-read Jack's rescue of the young hobbits before starting this, too. Hopefully the details have been vague enough in this story that any mis-remembering doesn't show.) Now I will have to go back and re-read the early chapters to see if I wrote that mis-fact into this story or not... [k! corrected thru ch. 5]

Yes, I did look up meals in Minas Tirith, and you were right, there is the "morsel taken before dawn" or something like that, and then something mid-morning for those who have had heavy duty, and then "nuncheon" and then the daymeal about sunset. I cannot see the greengrocer's family preparing for the daymeal on this day, though, seeing as how they anticipate claiming the bodies about sunset. Perhaps they'll feed the children and expectant/nursing mothers, but I don't think the rest would have the stomach to eat. So "nuncheon" has been substituted for "daymeal" in chapter 5, and no major meal preparations are evident for an evening meal. [k!]

[Do not forget to look at F's timeline!]
[Are you listening? You had better look at F2's timeline as I think his journey was just before F3's wedding and so that plot thread will have to be put into a different story. But F1 is a possibility. And how come so many names start with F? Do you know we are up to F6?]
(I thought it was F8.)
[Do I hear F10?]
(Very funny.)
[Did you know you've misspelled B's name through out the last few chaps?] 
(Would you believe, all the way back to Ch7? And when will you have email again?)
[E-mail? What's that?]
(Corrected H's name in 33 so that it's not spelled two different ways anymore. Or was it 32? I forget.) [33. k!]
["Haleth" changed to "Haldar" through "Led to the Slaughter". No more time today. k!]

In other news:

The King's Edict: Just what is it, and what does it mean?

All I really know is that in 1427 "King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and he makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre." (Appendix B)

One wonders, but what about the Great East-West Road that runs smack-dab through the middle of the Shire? Do Men now have to go round? And how would they do that, considering the lack of other roads going towards the Grey Havens? Or do Men have no business there? But I digress...

Now Hobbits, as a rule, seem to be law-abiding folk, and even those who do ill, do such in a lawful manner. Lotho acquired his holdings through purchase, as I recall. Ted Sandyman worked for the new owner(s) of the Mill and was "following orders" in all he did, no matter that the water and air were being polluted.

But Men, on the other hand... What is to prevent men from law-breaking, if they are not on the side of "good"? We have plenty of examples of these, not just those who fought on the side of the Dark Lord, but also the ruffians in the Shire, and Bill Ferny in Bree, and the Master (or was he Mayor? I will have to go back and look) of Laketown, who if not a law-breaker, was certainly shady in his ethics.

In olden times, punishment was not just punishment, but also served as deterrence. They didn't have the concept of "rehabilitation". It was easier and cheaper, as a matter of fact, just to hang someone or cut his head off rather than keeping him imprisoned, if he committed a crime you didn't want him to repeat. Usually imprisonment was an economic decision--a man was imprisoned until he was ransomed or paid his debt or something to that effect. (Or died of starvation, or whatever.)

What would keep Men out of the Shire?

Law-abiding Men would be no trouble. They might wander across the Bounds by accident, but it is to be hoped that the Watchers would be able to tell someone with nefarious motives from someone who made an honest mistake.

But dishonest Men? What's to keep them from sneaking back, for whatever reason (stealing? preying on hobbits?) if they are merely escorted to the Bounds and let go?

Certainly the Rangers are not set up to imprison people. Perhaps they could administer a severe flogging and turn them loose with a warning. It seems more likely, however, from a study of historical modes of justice, that they'd just hang the wretches. Perhaps even leave a few hanging up as a warning to illiterate ruffians who can't read the warning signs.

I rather doubt they'd expend the effort and resources to send trespassers to be tried before the King or other official, capital case notwithstanding, seeing as there aren't a whole lot of large settlements near the outside boundaries of the Shire. I could be wrong, but I think Elessar trusted his Rangers to use their judgement in defending the Shire, and this included the hanging of offenders without a trial, if they were caught in the act (or "on the spot" as it were). Remember that the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" only came into existence in recent times. For the sake of a plot point I am extending this to include someone accused by a credible representative of one of the Counsellors to the North-kingdom. The provision is there, anyhow, though whether a Hobbit would deliberately send a Man to his death by betraying him to the Rangers, knowing the penalty, is another matter. (In another story, Tolly escorts some Men out of the Shire rather than turning them over to the Rangers for just that reason, and gets accused of being in collusion with ruffians.)

If this is too much of a leap, I apologise. Just disregard "All that Glisters" and this particular story.